Emerging of canine kobuvirus in dogs in China, 2015.

Canine kobuvirus (CaKoV) is a newly emerging virus in dogs, which relates to the diarrhea of dogs. To investigate the CaKoV infection in dog population, fecal samples of dogs were collected from three provinces of China in 2015. The results of genetic analysis based on the complete VP1 gene showed that six CaKoVs isolates in this study were closely related with the Chinese canine originated isolate CH1 (90.6%-91.9% nucleotide identities). The phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the Chinese isolates clustered into a unique branch compared with isolates from other countries. The present study suggested that the CaKoVs had established infection in Chinese dog population. The systematic epidemiological investigation should be further carried out to evaluate the prevalence of the CaKoV infection in China.